5 ms·

One of the problems with old school thinking is that working hard means working long, which is absolute rubbish. Personally I can't be productive for 8 hours a

One of the problems with old school thinking is that working hard means working long, which is absolute rubbish. Personally I can't be productive for 8 hours a day and I'm pretty sure nobody can, all the time you're not being productive you're generally wasting time by making coffee, checking emails, attending meetings etc. So why not actually just work the time that you're productive and then go and enjoy the rest of the time instead of just using up time doing things of little consequence. That's working smart, IMO working longer just for the sake of it is working stupid because long and constant working hours aren't just wasted time, they negatively impact the time you wouldve been productive.

kevincennis 14y ago
Amen to that. I imagine the percentage of developers who can write legitimately good code for 8 hours a day is pretty low.
guynamedloren 14y ago
I totally agree with you. I feel like I can produce a huge amount of good work over a 4-6 hour period of 100% focus; significantly more (and better) work than I can accomplish over an 8-10 hour period littered with distractions/meetings/etc. I was just hoping somebody from Flow could weigh in with a first-hand account. Since everybody obviously has different work needs/environments for productivity, I was wondering how they managed to build an office culture that fosters these types of work habits.
japhyr 14y ago
This is why some of us can reasonably hope to launch a startup on the side while working a full time job. We're not putting in two 8-hour days, we're putting in 8-hour days at a full time job, and then putting in a couple highly productive hours on our own project every night or early every morning. I'm pretty sure there are a good number of people on here who are splitting their days like this.
nhangen 14y ago
I don't think it's 'old school' to work long hours. In my case, it's because I enjoy my work and I don't mind putting in 60 hour weeks. That said, if I were on your team, I would love having the extra time away from work.

kevincennis 14y ago

Amen to that. I imagine the percentage of developers who can write legitimately good code for 8 hours a day is pretty low.

guynamedloren 14y ago

I totally agree with you. I feel like I can produce a huge amount of good work over a 4-6 hour period of 100% focus; significantly more (and better) work than I can accomplish over an 8-10 hour period littered with distractions/meetings/etc. I was just hoping somebody from Flow could weigh in with a first-hand account. Since everybody obviously has different work needs/environments for productivity, I was wondering how they managed to build an office culture that fosters these types of work habits.

japhyr 14y ago

This is why some of us can reasonably hope to launch a startup on the side while working a full time job. We're not putting in two 8-hour days, we're putting in 8-hour days at a full time job, and then putting in a couple highly productive hours on our own project every night or early every morning. I'm pretty sure there are a good number of people on here who are splitting their days like this.

nhangen 14y ago

I don't think it's 'old school' to work long hours. In my case, it's because I enjoy my work and I don't mind putting in 60 hour weeks. That said, if I were on your team, I would love having the extra time away from work.